CA: BB-gun bill advances

In response to the police shooting of a Los Angeles teenager, state lawmakers on Tuesday backed a requirement that BB and pellet guns be made entirely with bright colors so that officers do not mistake them for deadly firearms.

The bill in question is SB 798 authored by Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) and supported by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. I’d like to pose the following question to Messrs. De Leon, Beck and Villaraigosa: Is this a BB gun?

It is, after all, brightly colored. And, according to your bill, its bright, cheery colors just scream “Hello Mr. Officer! I’m just a BB gun. I am obviously in the hands of a child. Put your gun away. I’m not a threat!”

Have you ever heard something that’s come out of an anti-gun politician’s mouth and the first response that popped into your head was something obscene? Of course, you stifled that response didn’t you. Calling someone a dangerous schmuck just isn’t proper in polite political discourse. But there are times when we are confronted with stupidity of such colossal scale that polite just doesn’t cover the situation.